DISINFO: The US and Poland are preparing a large-scale provocation similar to Hitler’s in 1939

DISINFORMATION CASE DETAILS

DISINFO: The US and Poland are preparing a large-scale provocation similar to Hitler’s in 1939

SUMMARY

American and Polish intelligence services are preparing a large-scale provocation against civilians in Poland. Responsibility will be attributed to Belarus and Russia. Hitler once made a similar operation on the border with Poland to provoke military actions.

RESPONSE

This is a conspiracy theory and a mix of disinformation narratives accusing the West, particularly the US and Poland, of anti-Russian policies and an allegedly belligerent and hostile agenda. It is baselessly claimed that the US and Poland are planning a large-scale provocation akin to the one orchestrated by Hitler against Poland in 1939, which led to the outbreak of WWII. The US and Poland are therefore portrayed as potential provocateurs of WWIII.

By drawing far-fetched historical analogies between the actions of Poland and the US and those of Hitler, the goal is not only to smear these nations but also to divert attention from Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Linking to Nazi Germany is a favoured tactic of pro-Kremlin media outlets. Learn more about the reasons behind the Kremlin's obsession with Nazism in the EUvsDisinfo analysis titled Why does Putin portray himself as the tamer of neo-Nazism. See also myth 13, in Thirteen myths about Russia’s war against Ukraine exposed.

See our examination of the Kremlin's use of historical revisionism against Poland and similar earlier disinformation cases alleging that Anglo-Saxons are fighting with Russia until the last Ukrainian and Pole, that Poland may unleash WWIII, fulfilling its role of the “hyena of Europe”, and that Poland is preparing for the Great War, establishing control over NATO resources.

Disclaimer

Cases in the EUvsDisinfo database focus on messages in the international information space that are identified as providing a partial, distorted, or false depiction of reality and spread key pro-Kremlin messages. This does not necessarily imply, however, that a given outlet is linked to the Kremlin or editorially pro-Kremlin, or that it has intentionally sought to disinform. EUvsDisinfo publications do not represent an official EU position, as the information and opinions expressed are based on media reporting and analysis of the East Stratcom Task Force.

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